©Cathy's Corner - Toy Bench 2 Tutorial

(Click on the above graphic for an
explanation of the FBN skill ratings.)

For this tutorial, you will need:

Paint Shop Pro (written with version 7.04, but should work with version 6 as well).

Toy tubes/images of your choice.

My selections files, which you can get by clicking this button. Unzip to a folder on your hard drive. (Selection files can be loaded from any folder, so my advice is to make a separate folder for each tutorial you save selection files for - it makes it much easier to keep your selection files organized.) (If you are using PSP8, click on Selections/Load/Save Selection/Load Selection from Disk then click on Edit Paths to add the new folder to your selection choices. You can remove this folder after you complete the tutorial.)

While I love showing how to create an image in Paint Shop Pro, it is my sincere hope that you will come away from my tutorials with a little more knowledge of the program than when you started!!!

PSP7: We will be loading selections throughout this tutorial. When you see the instructions "load from disk" you will click Selections/Load From Disk and browse to the folder you saved your selection files to. Click on the file called for and click Okay. (Until you choose another folder, PSP will default to this folder, so you only have to browse to it once!)

It is not necessary to "deselect" between layers - by loading a new selection you will do 2 things: deselect your previous selected area and select a new area. This will saves us several extra steps.

For each selected area, we will flood fill with our foreground color, contract selection by 1 pixel and then flood fill with the following image, until the directions say otherwise.

Right click on the following fill image and save to your hard drive to use as a fill. Open this image in PSP and minimize. Minimizing the image will make the image available, while not taking up room on your desktop.

�Cathy's Corner Toy Bench Pattern Fill

Make your foreground color #7A5124, and your background the above pattern.

Open a new image 350 x 350. Save this image as my_bench.psp. You can now save your image at any time during the tutorial by pressing your Control key and the letter "s". (Ctrl+S) I will be reminding you to save your image throughout the tutorial. Nothing worse than having PSP "crash" and losing all your work...ARGHHHH!!

Layer 1:

Rename Layer 1 to "slats".

Load the selection "1_cc_bench_slats.sel". (Each selection file is numbered in the order we will be using it in the hopes that this will make it easier to keep track of where you are in the tutorial.)

Flood fill with your foreground color, contract your selection by 1 pixel and flood fill with your pattern.

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

Layer 2:

Add a new layer and name it "bench back".

Load the selection "2_cc_bench_back.sel".

Flood fill with your foreground color, contract your selection by 1 pixel and flood fill with your pattern.

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

Layer 3:

Add a new layer and name it "left back leg".

Load the selection "3_cc_bench_lb_leg.sel".

Flood fill with your foreground color, contract your selection by 1 pixel and flood fill with your pattern.

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

Layer 4:

Add a new layer and name it "right back leg".

Load the selection "4_cc_bench_rb_leg.sel".

Flood fill with your foreground color, contract your selection by 1 pixel and flood fill with your pattern.

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

Here's what I have at this point:

Layer 5:

Add a new layer and name it "bench front".

Load the selection "5_cc_bench_front.sel".

Flood fill with your foreground color, contract your selection by 1 pixel and flood fill with your pattern.

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

Layer 6:

Add a new layer and name it "support".

Load the selection "6_cc_bench_support.sel".

Flood fill with your foreground color, contract your selection by 1 pixel and flood fill with your pattern.

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

Layer 7:

Add a new layer and name it "left front leg".

Load the selection "7_cc_bench_lf_leg.sel".

Flood fill with your foreground color, contract your selection by 1 pixel and flood fill with your pattern.

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

Layer 8:

Add a new layer and name it "right front leg".

Load the selection "8_cc_bench_rf_leg.sel".

Flood fill with your foreground color, contract your selection by 1 pixel and flood fill with your pattern.

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

Layer 9:

Add a new layer and name it "left arm".

Load the selection "9_cc_bench_left_arm.sel".

Flood fill with your foreground color, contract your selection by 1 pixel and flood fill with your pattern.

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

Layer 10:

Add a new layer and name it "right arm".

Load the selection "10_cc_bench_right_arm.sel".

Flood fill with your foreground color, contract your selection by 1 pixel and flood fill with your pattern.

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

Here's what I have at this point:

Layer 11:

Add a new layer and name it "wood detail".

Load the selection "11_cc_bench_wood_detail.sel".

Flood fill with your foreground color, contract your selection by 1 pixel and flood fill with your pattern.

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

For the remaining layers we will be changing our foreground and background colors.

Layer 12:

Add a new layer and name it "heart".

Load the selection " 12_cc_bench_heart.sel".

Flood fill with a color of your choice (I used #4E5F8E), contract your selection by 1 pixel and flood fill with your second color (I used #85BDC7).

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

Layer 13:

Add a new layer and name it "deco sides".

Load the selection "13_cc_bench_deco_sides.sel".

Flood fill with a color of your choice (I used #4E5F8E), contract your selection by 1 pixel and flood fill with your second color (I used #85BDC7).

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

For the next two layers (the bench pad) choose a pattern you'd like to use for your pad. Use this pattern as your background and change your foreground to a dark color from your pattern.

Layer 14:

Add a new layer and name it "bench pad front".

Load the selection "14_cc_bench_pad_front.sel".

Flood fill with your foreground color, contract your selection by 1 pixel and flood fill with the pattern you chose. DO NOT DESELECT

Float your selection and apply a cutout effect:
Horizontal and Vertical: 2
Opacity: 40
Blur: 5

Apply another cutout, changing your Horizontal and Vertical to: -2

DESELECT

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

Layer 15:

Add a new layer and name it "bench pad top".

Load the selection "15_cc_bench_pad_top.sel".

Flood fill with your foreground color, contract your selection by 1 pixel and flood fill with the pattern you chose. DO NOT DESELECT

Float your selection and apply a cutout effect:
Vertical and Horizontal: 3
Opacity: 40
Blur: 10

Apply another cutout, changing your Horizontal and Vertical to: -3

DESELECT

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

Drag your "bench pad top" layer beneath your "left front leg" layer.

Drag your "bench pad front" layer beneath your "bench pad top" layer.

Here's what I have at this point:

Layer 16:

Click on your "deco sides" layer and add a new layer named "left arm detail".

Change your foreground color back to #7A5124.

Click on your paintbrush tool, with the following settings:

Now draw a detail curly-q on your left arm, as shown below:

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

Layer 17:

Duplicate your "deco sides" layer and mirror your new layer. If needed, use your Mover Tool to adjust the detail on your right arm.

Save your image (Ctrl+S)

Your bench is done!

If you save as in PSP format, with all your layers separate, you can change the cushion and detail colors later.

Merge visible layers to export as a Picture Tube.

Decorate your bench with the tubes/images of your choice. Add each item on it's own layer, to allow you to move and/or resize if necessary:

Some of the "toys" I filled my bench with were created
from the following tutorials:

LadyTX's Sweat Pea Skunk

Char's Tea Party Hat

Christina's Cupcake Bear

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